Gramwell Trail – Mountain Brook Reservoir – Jaffrey NH

It has come to my attention this entry from last fall was never published so I’ve decided to release it into the world today. Late is better than never! So here we go…

Over the past few years I have had to get more creative in how I find trails, especially ones close to home that no one seems to know about – like this one! Believe it or not I found it while looking at a Redfin map. Whhhy it was on a realtor’s map I couldn’t tell you but I knew I had to swing by and check it out.

I had no idea that I’d be driving down a series of sketchy camp/dirt roads to get here. The Prius LOVES me for these unplanned adventures, especially when fallen leaves obscure the road and make everythign slippery. Nothing like having the fear of God put back into you because you’re driving a Prius.

ANYWAY. This place is near civilization and yet still in the middle of nowhere. It’s odd, but the PERFECT introvert’s trail! Although there was a cute little parking lot which had room for numerous vehicles we were the only ones there on this day and according to reviews online this seems like it is usually the case. Maybe because it’s new? The trail board claimed it was only set up in 2016 and already was faded almost beyond being able to read. A handwritten note to the side pleaded for help to repair the bridges.

The trail itself was a bit wet and slippery under a thick layer of dead leaves but other than that it was an easy trail that ends at a cute little pond view before attaching to a well known snow mobile trail. It made for a really lovely afternoon walk. We didn’t see another soul and it was SO QUIET. A hidden gem indeed.

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Shadow and Soul Emporium & Tea Lounge

Keene is such an adorable city. Walking down the main street is always a joy but I hadn’t done so in a number of years and a lot of the stores have changed. One of these fresh new faces was this absolutely bonkers tea lounge and emporium. It. Was. Wild.

Straight in the door you see a line of fabulous witches hats along with some greenery, a bunch of separate booths with all sorts of witchy and steam punky things, with sitting spots throughout and a tea lounge at the back with a huge wall of every kind of tea you could ever desire. This place had all the vibes! And I was surprised by all the spell bottles – so precise and so many to choose from! And the delightful hats? Come on. You can’t beat a nice hat. Or a good crystal. Or a ton of politically left leaning stickers.

Well, it’s been a rough few days for me and it doesn’t look like it’s going to return to sanity for a long while so I would just like to thank anyone who is reading this for following along my adventures. This summer has seen Catching Marbles really take off and I am SO grateful and thankful for all of you. Keep joy in your heart and go get some tea! Much love, Theophanes.

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Pet’s World – Weymouth Massachusetts

Lately we’ve been trying to come up with new things to check out – when you’re always on the move sometimes you get to the bottom of the barrel when it comes to inspiration. I had however started to resume my exploration of independently owned pet stores after realizing that there are more out there than I gave them credit for and on this day my companion decided it might be time to check one out so we did.

I am not sure what the lure was for this particular one but as usual I was going just to see what they had and maybe get a betta fish or two if they had any girls. This was a small pet store with an even smaller parking lot but the outside was insane – completely glammed up in murals of animals. I was endeared to this alone.

When we went inside we were greeted by a counter full of locally made organic dog biscuits, which if I am to be honest looked like a human cookie counter. I mean the biscuits were frosted and huge! Further in we found a small corner of small animals, today mostly dwarf bunnies, and a room of birds behind a glass partition. Budgies, finches, a grey cockatiel, you know the standard fare. Out loose on a perch however was what I am guessing was the store mascot – a female eclectus. She seemed content. Although I do have a background in birds I never personally had an eclectus so I have no idea if this was an unusually mild bird or not.

The back room was where it was really going on though. There were a few fish, again standard fare, a rack of jarred bettas, some really cool but with no price tag so I didn’t ask. And then there was a number of tubs of juvenile fancy axolotls. Gawd where they cute. The rest of the room was even more impressive with some candy-colored corn snakes, some frogs, a big old tegu, and the most colorful bearded dragon I’ve even seen in my life. He actually had stripes of green and red. I took a picture but my cell phone camera sucks and did not register his full calico glory. And to be honest I wasn’t supposed to be taking photos as there was a sign up asking us not to in the reptile room. I get it, some of these animals are probably worth a lot of money and it’s best not to tempt robbers but still.. that’s an odd rule for a pet shop. I only broke it ever so slightly because 1) I probably won’t be back 2) I am ignorant to what the costliest critters were and 3) By the time anyone sees this blog entry their stock will probably be completely different anyway. I will note all the animals seemed healthy and clean and this place did not smell at all.

So, would I suggest this place? Sure, if you’re out for a unique reptile. As for anything else… ehhhh, maybe if you’re in the area. I honestly wouldn’t say this place was worth driving that far.

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Beautiful Picnic Spot (video) – Ayer Massachusetts

Today I was doing errands and decided to go on a hike afterwards. I found the Ayer Conservation Trails at 73 Groton-Harvard Road Ayer. It was weird, parking was on the opposite side of the road and the kiosk was behind a guard rail and didn’t look like it’d been replaced in yeeeears. I wandered down the trail and when I saw a VERY decrepit sign readin, “pond” with an arrow I followed.

Turned out this was just a series of viewpoints off the main trail but it was GORGEOUS. I took this short video to show you all and then was called home for an emergency so I didn’t get to complete the hike. But I decided to post this anyway because it was still very cool. Video below!

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Mason Brook Plant Nursery – Mason New Hampshire

I was so insistent this year to have a garden that I planted a ton of tomatoes and peppers months ago indoors. But in my typical distracted ADHD way the tomatoes were only cherry tomatoes (as I kept getting distracted before planting the sandwich tomatoes) and I also forgot to plant … well, everything else. So I sewed a bunch of seeds directly into the ground which resulted in one very fat chipmunk who ate all my goddamn seeds.

I know I’m late in getting this all together but I thought there’d be SOMETHING for plants left in shops! No, everywhere I went had tomatoes and hot peppers and literally nothing else. *cries*

That’s how I ended up trying the Mason Brook Plant Nursery. It was an adventure to get to. My GPS decided to be a jerk and bring me to a random residential neighborhood nearby and signs aside the road were less than clear to me. Honestly, when I drove in I thought I was either on my way to a dead end road or maybe someone’s driveway as I didn’t see a nursery but after I passed a couple houses I found it tucked in the woods.

This is not a huge nursery but it had a whole greenhouse dedicated to vegetables and although they too were fairly cleaned out I did manage to get my hands on some cucumbers, pumpkins, and a summer squash. They also had more hot peppers, spaghetti squash, rhubarb, strawberries, and an impressive selection of herbs.

Outside there was a very nice selection of fruit and ornamental trees I tried my best to ignore (as I really want my own orchard!) There was another larger greenhouse full of flowers and a weird mini antique shed?? I looked around for someone to pay halfway expecting to find an honor box but alas there was a sweet old lady wandering around and giving off only the chillest of vibes. She found my choice of sugar pumpkins interesting. I’m not sure why. My hair is orange.. I love pumpkins!

Sadly, I did not find any watermelon, peas, or winter squash but I was thankful for what I did find and paid my $21 in cash before wandering off.

Would I suggest this place? Absolutely! It had lovely rural country vibes and a few unusual options I hadn’t seen at the bigger places like rhubarb. If you happen to live nearby I’d say it’s well worth a poke.

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European Country Antiques – Cambridge Massachusetts

It’ not often we get to check out a new antique store! This one just moved to this quiet location in Cambridge. It doesn’t look like much from the outside but it was very decent.

This is one of the few antique stores that have a consistent vision of what they want to sell. Inside we found almost entirely furniture – all of it farmhouse, country chic, or rustic DIY. I loved it but…. I don’t have a house or the budget for this place. I don’t think I saw anything under a couple grand. Well, except for a giant basket out back marked $18. I pondered if there was a missing zero.

Despite the prices I would absolutely recommend this place for anyone looking for that old farmhouse feel. It’s by far the largest collection of rustic and country chic furniture I’ve ever seen in one place so if that’s your style and you’re blessed with more wealth than myself by all means check this place out!

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Random Sights (and Gargoyles) around New Haven Connecticut

Few things make me happier than finding a gargoyle in the wild. Imagine my pure delight when I noticed the church across the Grove Street Cemetery had several! Even better the whole building was COVERED in faces. Why, I have no idea but I was enamored. I wandered around the perimeter of the whole building learning that this was the Yale law school.

I eventually caught the attention of what I presume was a professor watching me with my camera excitedly pointing out every grotesque. He stopped, stood on his bike and watched, probably trying to figure out what I was up to. Was it something to be concerned about? Was I a student? A robber? A tourist? Hard to say.

There were also several other cool buildings and burials as we wandered. New Haven has a weird European feel to it as it is just so damn pretty! Anyway… for fellow hawkers and photographers I highly suggest giving it a good poke!

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Grey Matter Books – New Haven CT

Although we hadn’t intended on going to a bookstore we happened by this one between where we parked and where were trying to go and being the nerds we are… in we went!

I cannot tell you how long it has been since I have been in a used bookstore. I am SO happy that some still exist in this eBook world! I was initially struck by the title of the place which seemed to be a pun. Grey matter being the areas of brain where we store information. Plus, the front window had some really odd books in it. Just bizarre.

We walked in and I thought being a college, er university, town this was most likely a textbook swap but alas it seemed to have a bit of everything. It wasn’t enormous but it was lovely! Chairs were randomly dispersed, excited university students prattled in the narrow aisles about buying a book in French for a friend learning French. It was sweet! There was a poster on the wall commemorating Edward Gorey, a rare William Burroughs piece behind glass, and even an old hardcover copy of Poe. And the place smelled of old books. A cart at the front had $1 finds.

I sat at the back of the store cooling off for a bit. That’s where I found a whole section dedicated to gender studies and another on black voices. I skimmed the gender books as it’s interesting to me, giggling at Sapphic Slashers; Sex, Violence, and American Modernity. What a title! I may have bought it but it had no tags, neither did the book my companion picked up. I didn’t see any prices labelled anywhere except for the $1 cart up front and being in a wealthy city but with a modest budget none of us really wanted to ask but we did enjoy the place and I would recommend it if you’re in town and looking for a weirdly specific reference book to something on the unusual side!

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Hull’s Art Supply and Framing – New Haven CT

This is another odd entry as I don’t do too many stores but there was a sandwich board out front saying it was the only independently owned art supply store in the entire state of Connecticut, so I had to go in and check it out.

This was another modestly sized store but with an eager staff who immediately asked if we needed help with anything. The front was dedicated to little novelty gifts like pencils with funny sayings printed on them relating to astrological signs, funny erasers and whatnot. A bulletin board at the entrance was COVERED in missing cat posters, with a few smatterings of services offered by local artists.

Inside there was a section devoted to every hobby you can imagine – painting, sculpting, model building, framing, diorama and train set building, sketching, wood carving, you name it! And their prices seemed reasonable with a surprisingly large variety of items to choose from. I’d definitely shop here if I lived nearby. I have 300 hobbies and all of them are expensive and time consuming. At least this place made it all look so fun!

So yeah – shop local, support indie, this place is a little gem!

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Peabody Natural History Museum – New Haven Connecticut

There’s few things more alluring than the chance to see dinosaurs. Add to that the fact this museum was free and we were all on board. To the dinosaurs!!

Of course being a natural history museum there was a lot more than dinosaurs but they were the first thing we saw – specifically a life size triceratops guarding the outside of the building and several pterodactyl fossils just in the lobby. Already I was endeared. From here we wandered into a large room with mostly prehistoric ice age fossils – all the most beloved creatures from the time – a mammoth, a sabre tooth tiger, even a moa which I lovingly call a “12 foot murder bird.” It was a nice display.

This wasn’t the end of the fossils. There was also marine fossils, including a precambrian section with an anomolocarus, a whole dinosaur room, and even a huge sea turtle in a large sitting area near the bathrooms. Also near the bathrooms was a super cool little water bottle refilling station claiming to have saved the world from thousands of plastic bottles. I liked that!

The museum also had a selection of very well done taxidermy of unusual species – my favorite was an aye aye, as well as displays about how taxidermy is done, as well as a living lab with leaf cutter ants and butterflies. For the more technical minds there were displays of the evolution of various technologies, for history buffs there was a very touching display of archeological finds including a Mesopotamian legal document showing a woman selling her own children into slavery to spare them from starvation after losing her husband, and finally there were several rooms dedicated to rocks and minerals that were far more fascinating than I had anticipated. Things I’d never seen – including one that looked like rolls of fabric and another spikey creation that made me itchy looking at it.

All and all we spent a couple hours in this museum and for being free I was quite impressed! I would definitely recommend it to any curious minds looking for something to do in the area.

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